£1.85m of developers' cash to be spent around Wycombe (From Bucks Free Press)

£1.85m of developers' cash to be spent around Wycombe

6:00pm Tuesday 12th February 2013 in News By James Nadal

Aerial view of Abbey Way and town centre

DEVELOPERS' cash totalling £1.85m will pay for a raft of projects in Wycombe.

A new £398,000 community centre in Totteridge and a £220,000 crossing on Abbey Way, High Wycombe, are two of the headline schemes.

Another £220,000 will be spent on pedestrian and public realm improvements in High Wycombe town centre, including St Mary's Street, in 2013/14.

The money was gained by Wycombe District Council as a result of numerous planning applications.

Builders have to pay towards community infrastructure as part of what is called a section 106 agreement.

Officials have earmarked two chunks of cash totalling £398k for the Totteridge recreation ground, with a scheme to be determined after talks with residents.

Councillor Hugh McCarthy, Conservative, Cabinet Member for Planning, said: "The money is going towards the Terriers and Amersham Hill ward area where there is a very significant shortfall of open space recreation areas and that's funded from substantial development.

“It is a remarkable achievement if it gets off the ground.”

He said development in the area had been contentious at the time but now significant investment was being ploughed back in.

An exact location of the new Abbey Way crossing has not been confirmed but will be situated between the junction with Queen Victoria Road and the access to the Rye/ nursery.

The council believes it is necessary because the town is currently poorly connected.

The current subway route for pedestrians is not obvious and discourages and intimidates many users, especially when it floods, the council said.

Cllr McCarthy said: “Fundamentally one of the key things about the master plan is to improve the connectivity to the town to get people walking around the and the crossing is a very important part of that. We would have liked to have had in place years ago.”

Leader Cllr Alex Collingwood, Conservative, said: “The way that you take your life in your hands when you try crossing at Abbey actually is a very key way of making this town a much more usable place to live.”

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